Telecommunication networks start at the local level with a telephone or communication line that runs from a home or business. An exemplary telephone telecommunications system is shown in FIG. 1. Telephone lines are grouped to make a line unit 106. There are multiple line units 106 for each switch module 104. The switch modules 104 make a switching system 103 for a central office 102. A telephone call is transferred from the telecommunications line to a switch module 104 of central office 102 and is directed to the proper destination. There may be multiple central offices 102 in one region of a telecommunications network. Furthermore, there may be multiple regions in a national telecommunications network.
Due to increased telephone and Internet dial-up usage, the number of calls on certain equipment has greatly increased lines to become overloaded and this results in failed call attempts. As a result, certain line units may be plagued with chronic call failure and poor service quality. However, it is difficult to determine which line units are overloaded and need additional equipment to handle the call volume.
One method of determining whether equipment limitations have been exceeded is to manually search line units one at a time determine if the equipment in place is adequate for the call volume. This method is time consuming, expensive and requires a large amount of personnel. Furthermore, by the time the process is completed, traffic volumes may have changed and the information gathered is outdated.
Another method used to try to solve this problem is a “HOT SPOT” report sold by Lucent Technologies, Inc. The “HOT SPOT” report is a print out and snapshot view of the performance of line units for a particular switch module at the time the report is run. The drawback of the report is that it does not include line usage information for more than one point in time. Rather, the report receives information regarding line usage information only at one point and time, does not provide detailed information and does not give a picture of what the traffic volume is like at different times of day or even different seasons. The report does not allow for the results to be updated at any reasonable frequency. These reports provided limited line usage information and do not provide any line usage information about an overall region or on a national level for use by managers. Furthermore, these types of reports are limited and options are not available. It is not possible for a user to specify the type of report they would like to view.
New equipment is added to a telecommunications network it is not reflected in these “HOT SPOT” reports because the structure or layout of the network is only updated on a yearly basis. Thus, the reports do not reflect newly added or removed equipment.
A system and method for continuously collecting and monitoring line usage information and generating line usage reports based on the line usage information would be advantageous. A system and method for documenting newly added or removed equipment in a telecommunications that is updated on a regular basis would also be advantageous. Furthermore, allowing a user or other system to select a report type and report criteria to generate a line usage report would also be advantageous.